Year: 2017

Great article on name spellings

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty ,

A while ago I put up a tab at the top called Helpful naming tips and info — it’s a collection of posts and comments from here and elsewhere that I think are particularly helpful. I’ve been gradually adding to it as I come across things (comments, posts, articles) that I think are particular helpful regarding a particular naming issue.

I’m just about to add Abby’s post from today: Spelling Counts: 9 Rules for Spelling Baby Names. Such a great post! A few really valuable nuggets:

  • “If you’re not sure how to spell your child’s name, choose the dominant spelling … Notice I didn’t say correct spelling.”
  • “I borrowed the phrase “phonetic transparency” from NameLab years ago, and it’s still one of my favorite finds. The corporate naming group explains it this way:A phonetically transparent name is spoken-as-spelled and easily pronounced from alphabetic notation … Creative spellings work when they stay within the bounds of phonetic transparency. Which means they work best when the changes are relatively minor. I know how to pronounce Jaymee and Lauryn, even if I expect to see Jamie and Lauren … Change too much, though, and you sacrifice phonetic transparency”
  • “If there’s one hard and fast thou-shalt-not on this list, it has to this one: avoid novelty spellings … Kneena for Nina. Kviiilyn for Kaitlyn. Airwrecka for Erica”
  • “But here’s an important rule of thumb: the more creative the spelling, the less sophisticated the name appears”

As with all of Abby’s name writing, I love how she imparts hard naming truths (“the more creative the spelling, the less sophisticated the name appears”) without coming across as offensive to anyone.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on name spellings! Do you, as a rule, like or loathe creative spellings? Are there any exceptions to your own rules (i.e., if you dislike like kr8tyv-type spellings in general, are there any that you actually think are kind of clever or attractive)?

UPDATE: I just remembered I wrote this for CatholicMom ages ago: A Name by Any Other Spelling

Birth announcement: Genevieve Guadalupe!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , , ,

Back on the Advent names post, reader Mary commented,

“I am due on the 10th and while we have names on our mind, I LOOOOVE the idea of incorporating Advent traditional themes into their names.🙂 So I will have to keep brainstorming, I guess.😉“

I always get so excited to hear of an upcoming birth! I told Mary I’d love to know what she ended up naming her baby, if she didn’t mind sharing. She didn’t mind! 🙌 She emailed me the other day to let me know her little one has arrived — a little girl who’s been given the gorgeous name … Genevieve Guadalupe!

Mary writes,

“Happy New Year! I hope this message finds you and your family well and blessed! A few weeks ago you shared a post on the blog on Advent Baby Names. I commented on the post that I was due December 10 with baby #2 (at the time gender was unknown) and that I loved the idea of an Advent-inspired name. We were blessed with the safe and quick(!) delivery of a baby girl on Tuesday, December 13th and chose to name her Genevieve Guadalupe. Genevieve after my husband’s late grandmother. We were already set on Genevieve as a first name for a girl, but were pretty unsure about middle names. During the last part of our pregnancy we did a 54 day rosary novena which just so happened to end on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and one of our intentions was for a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. We believe that Our Lady of Guadalupe definitely interceded for us (many blessings have been revealed during and after praying it) and wanted us to finish the novena before the baby was born! 🙂

What’s interesting is that the name was suggested by a couple family members, as a joke (we also joked that our baby’s name would depend on which saints’ feast day he/she was born on since there were so many that week!), but it really grew on us. Also, considering that we live in Texas, we felt that it was a perfect fit for our family and daughter!

Genevieve, nicknamed Gigi, joins big brother James Peter! 🙂 “

I looove Genevieve Guadalupe!! What a beautiful, meaningful combo!! I love how present Our Lady of Guadalupe was to Mary and her husband, and it’s so wonderful to memorialize her intercession in the very name of their baby girl. ❤ Also, I know Gigi can be a nickname for Genevieve anyway, but have G.G. initials makes it really fun!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Genevieve!!

img_5019-1

Genevieve Guadalupe

Prayers needed for some sweet little girls: Meagan, Regina, and Belén

sanctanomina Sancta Nomina community , , ,

Happy Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus! The whole month of January is dedicated to His Name, and it’s a great day to ask you to pray for several Sancta Nomina babies.

I posted a consultation and birth announcement for the sixth daughter of a friend of mine last year, and the year before that I posted about a fundraiser for their fifth daughter, who was diagnosed with hydrocephalus in utero and who — now at five years old — is an amazing little darling girl whose every day is a miracle. Her name is Meagan, and she’s currently in the hospital having a tough time. Her mom, Molly, posted this and said it was okay to share:

“It has been quite a week. Last Tuesday, while opening birthday gifts with Brian, Meagan collapsed on the floor. Her head became full with pressure and she was immediately lethargic. We rushed her to CHOA where she was barely breathing upon arrival but still forcibly vomiting from her head pressure. She had a carbon dioxide level of 95 and was immediately intubated. She then began to seize but luckily since we were already here it was stopped quickly with heavy medications. Despite being sedated and on a breathing tube she continued to pressure vomit so she was taken to the OR and her shunt was externalized to relieve the pressure. Somewhere in this process, Meagan aspirated. Thursday, Meagan spiked a 105 fever and the whole situation changed. We found out not only were we dealing with finding a new shunt solution for her, but she had aspiration from the vomiting and breathing tube combination which had settled in her lungs as aspiration pneumonia. The situation became very serious. Over the last 7 days, we have dealt with her struggling for oxygen, highest of high heart rates, lowest of low heart rates, an illeus (total gut shutdown), and now we found out today she has RSV on top of it all. Truly, it’s a perfect storm that she fell in to and was unavoidable. She has a long complicated fight ahead, not to mention a brain surgery that will have to follow – but she’s a fighter. Despite the hard pill to swallow of how sick she is, we have also witnessed amazing things this last week. Meagan has been doing what she has always done best – even while incredibly ill. We have seen people and communities from all aspects of our life come together in ways we couldn’t make happen. We have seen love, humor, charity and compassion – and it’s all because of her.

Meagan has been a miracle since the day she was born, and we continue to pray that she fights all of these odds against her to once again show us how miraculous she is. This has been difficult. I miss my girl’s smile, her laugh, her constant chatty looping conversations and her quirky questions.

We thank everyone for the many prayers, the amazing meal chain, braving the cold and rain to stand and pray for her tonight, helping wth the kids, and for our very close inner circle of support for being there for us and Megs at the hospital.

I will post an update when we know more or when we have any changes to report. Thanks and God Bless.”

Secondly, I posted a name reveal for blogger Sylvia (Tales from the Mommy Trenches)’s fifth baby girl back in October, when she shared that her baby had been diagnosed in utero with a congenital heart defect and Down Syndrome. Her baby has arrived! I was planning to ask her if I could do a birth announcement once things settled down, but I’m sure she’d appreciate the prayers right now — it looks like her little girl will be in the hospital for a while, and she’s got a lot of issues to deal with, which her mama’s documenting beautifully on Instagram. They also decided to change her name from the planned Matilde Regina to Therese Regina “due to some hefty intercession of St. Thérèse,” but as with all their girls she’s going by her middle name, and Sylvia’s #reggiegram hashtag kills me, so sweet!

Finally, Lindsay’s little Belén is sick, and I know they’d appreciate prayers for her. Lindsay wrote on Instagram:

“Could I ask a prayer to be said for Belén? She is really struggling with RSV and we’re trying hard to keep her out of the hospital. She coughs so hard that she keeps vomiting her feedings. Thank you so much in advance. I know so many who need prayers right now so please know we are praying and offering for all of your little ones too!! We could use some fire power🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻“

It’s such a privilege to pray for your babies! And I’m so grateful that you’re all always so willing to jump right on the prayer train. ❤ ❤ ❤

Baby name consultation: No. 5 green bean 🌱 — solid, saintly, no nicknames

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , , ,

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day/Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God!

Vanessa and her husband are hoping for baby No. 5! Vanessa writes,

“My husband David & I have a unique situation in that we’ve adopted our 4 children. We’re on “the list” again and there’s no telling when (or if!) our next little one might arrive. We could receive a phone call next week, in 3 months, in 2 years or not at all (you get the picture!)…Also, we have no idea if we’d be adopting another boy or another girl next time as we are not able to specify a preference.”

A new little one will join big sibs:

Nicholas Benedict (“his birthmom chose his first name Nicholas but we changed his middle name to Benedict. We LOVED the name Nicholas but had never considered it as a first name – when he was already named Nicholas, we immediately loved it! (As it turns out, he inherited much generosity from his namesake, St. Nicholas!) We received the call about our son when Pope Benedict was in the US for his historic visit in 2008. We decided while watching the news coverage to pray to St Benedict for his intercession and at that point decided if it worked out, we would change his middle name to Benedict. Of course, the rest is history!“)

John Paul (“we gave him this name after St Pope John Paul. We had always loved and admired the beloved Pope and we wanted our son to have a wonderful saint and holy Pope to look up to. Of course, John is very loving, just like the beloved Pope was.”)

Mark Thomas (“we gave him this name after St Mark and St Thomas More. We chose Mark because we met his birthmom on the feast day of St Mark (April 25). We have always loved and admired the fortitude and perseverance of St Thomas More and we loved the idea of using this name. Ironically, Mark’s birthday is the birthday of St Pope John Paul and he came home to us on July 11, the feast day of St Benedict! Clearly, he was born to be our child – God knew he would be in our family!!“)

Mary Catherine (“we gave her this name after Our Lady and also after St Catherine Laboure. We have always loved the miraculous medal and we loved the name Catherine. Mary was born on the sixth anniversary of the day Nicholas came home to us! (It was even a Thursday, just like in 2008!) Also, she came home to us on 5/19/2014, the day after Mark’s 2nd birthday.”)

What wonderful names! And the name stories! I totally had goosebumps reading all the fun and amazing details!

Vanessa and David have several naming rules/considerations:

1. We don’t really like nicknames for our children. With the exception of Nicholas, our other children’s names can’t really be shortened. This was intentional. We also call Nicholas by his full name as often as possible. We hope he’ll always be “Nicholas.”
2. We definitely want our children to have saints or biblical names so they know WHO they were named after and who they can learn about to look up to and admire.
3. We haven’t ever really considered any names that are trendy or too unique or too far “out there.”
4. We love to consider saints’ feast days for any special or noteworthy days around the birth, placement, birthparent meetings, etc. Since we have no idea when or if a child may come to us, this happens along the way if a match happens.
5. For a boy, we want the name to be a “strong” name – nothing too trendy or weak/feminine sounding. Also, nothing that could pass as a girl name and vice versa for a girl. (No unisex names!)

Some boy names they’ve considered include:

Andrew (“we don’t really love “Andy” or “Drew” so we have shied away from using this name, although it’s still a possibility“)
David (“this is a strong contender if next child is a boy. He would be named after his dad and luckily, there’s a St David! We could use this as a middle name or a first name“)
Christopher (“perhaps for a middle name, but this name doesn’t really work as a first name with our last name (since it starts with “S”)“)
Dominic (“David LOVES this name (and I do too) BUT I’ve always thought it was too close to “Nicholas.” I have always thought this could not be used because of our Nicholas. We love that St Dominic received the rosary from Our Lady“)
Anthony (“We love this name but we do NOT like “Tony.”“)
Joseph (“David loves this name (St Joseph) but see below (nephews). For me, I would think perhaps a middle name, if anything“)

“We have 4 nephews: James Michael, Michael Charles, Joseph Brian, Jack David. While my husband David disagrees, I feel we should NOT use any of the first names as a first name for our child. He would strongly consider Michael and Joseph but I would prefer these for a middle name, if at all. After all, these nephews are HIS brother’s children, so they would then have the same first AND last name.”

And names they’ve considered for girls include:

Veronica (“my ABSOLUTE favorite girl name – Mary was almost Veronica, but we felt strongly we wanted to name our daughter after Our Lady, and I didn’t want to “waste” Veronica on a middle name, just in case we ever had another daughter! We love how Veronica wiped the face of Jesus in the Stations of the Cross – what compassion! What a beautiful image (pun intended!)“)
Monica (“I love this name – LOVE St Monica, mother of St Augustine“)
Anna (“I have always loved this name. Love how Anna is the woman with Simeon when the baby Jesus is presented in the temple“)
Therese (“We LOVE St Therese of Lisieux but NOT a fan of “Terry” – also the “s” or “z” sound at the end of any name isn’t great with our last name since it begins with “S.” I think this one is out although it could be a middle name“)

“My mother and mother in law both have the middle name “Ann(e).”
My MIL’s name is Ruth and we had a reading from Ruth in our wedding (our favorite verse!). It’s even engraved in my engagement band {“Ruth 1:16-17”}. For these reasons, I could see using Ruth as a middle name.

Recently, especially after reading your post from Lindsay at My Child I Love You, I’ve been thinking Clairvaux or Zelie would be a good name for a girl, although they both go against our past idea that we don’t want anything too unique. While these are definite Catholic references/saints, I think they might be too “out there” for my husband. If I ever won this one, I’d be surprised! Although Zelie could be a fun middle name?“

I loved working on this! Regarding the names Vanessa and David have on their list of considerations, first I have to say (which you all already know) that I almost always start a consultation by looking up in the Baby Name Wizard the names the parents have already used and those they like as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. So I had to laugh when I was looking up the names on this family’s list — they’re all style matches for each other! They have very consistent taste!

So I love all their boy ideas. I do think Andrew and Anthony could be “just Andrew/Anthony” if they stuck with it, like they do with Nicholas. David also — I know a couple little Davids, and they all go by just David, never Dave/Davy, etc. In fact, I think these days people are much less likely to automatically nickname a child who’s been introduced as a formal name. So all that works in their favor!

As far as Christopher — yes, I can see why they’d prefer it to be in the middle spot because of having an S last name, but I also don’t think it’s the worst thing ever.

Re: Dominic being too similar to Nicholas — on the one hand, I can see what Vanessa means, especially with Nic(k) being common enough nicknames for both. But, on the other hand, Veronica and Monica both have the “nic” within them, and Nicky is a common enough nickname for Veronica, so I don’t see any reason for Dominic to be dropped from the list if Veronica and/or Monica stays on it. However, that said, I suspect that Nicholas, Dominic, and Veronica/Monica might be too much “nic” for one family, and since Veronica is Vanessa’s favorite girl name, maybe Dominic should bow out. But then, maybe they won’t have another girl? Gah! It’s a hard one to figure out! I am sure, though, that Veronica and Monica are too rhymey for sisters.

Of the girl names on their list, I think that (besides Veronica), Anna/Anne is one of their best options, since Anne can’t be shortened and I don’t think Annas really ever get shortened either. Both are gorgeous names and really fit their style (according to the BNW). I love Ruth too, and it would be unexpected as a middle name, which I love.

I totally get their feelings on Therese, like Christopher, and though I think Tess is more likely than Terry these days, that doesn’t solve the problem of running into the S last name. It would definitely make a great middle name for them though, beautiful! I’m loving the idea of Anna Therese or Veronica Therese.

And Clairvaux and Zelie! I’m so surprised by them both! They’re both great, and I could see them both as a middle name as well. Anna Clairvaux … Veronica Zelie … they totally work!

Okay! So I came up with a bunch more ideas for Vanessa and David, and while I leaned heavily on the BNW for ideas of names that they might like, I also paid a lot of attention to names that don’t nickname easily:

Girl
(1) Clare/Claire
I was going to suggest Clare/Claire anyway, because of its non-nickname-ability, and when I read that Vanessa likes Clairvaux I thought aha! It totally fits the style of their other kids!

(2) Lucy
Lucy is just one of the sweetest names, and isn’t very nicknameable — I love it for this family!

(3) Rose
This is such a sweet one-syllable name — Marian and traditional with a little vintage feel!

(4) Helen(a)
I’ve been seeing Helen and Helena getting a good amount of love lately, and I don’t think most people would think to nickname a Helen (though Nell can be used if one wanted to use a nickname for Helen; Helena can shorten to Lena or I think Nell could work there too, but the one Helena I know in real life has always only been Helena). Dwija from the blog House Unseen, Life Unscripted named her youngest Helen Margaret, so cute!

(5) Hildi
I think lots more people would name their daughters after St. Hildegard of Bingen if her first name wasn’t so clunky! But I do know one little girl who is named after her and goes by Hildi and I just die over how sweet it is! I would totally do *just Hildi*, and I’m loving the idea of Hildi Ruth — I kind of love how antique that combo sounds!

(6) Sara(h)
Sarah was actually a huge style match for this family according to the BNW and since it doesn’t really reduce down I thought it definitely deserved a mention. There’s a St. Sara of Antioch (feast day April 20), and Sarah the Matriarch of course.

(7) Natalie
Natalie and Natalia both did quite well for Vanessa and David in my research as well! I thought Natalie was more their speed than Natalia, and though it can nickname to Nat, all the Natalies I know go by the full Natalie. I also love its meaning — it literally refers to Christmas Day (from the Latin natale domini — “the birth of the Lord”).

(8) Julia
I thought Julia was another name that would be a good fit for them style-wise and also because the Julias I know all go by the full Julia, never Julie/Jules. A lovely, regal name!

Boy
(1) Jude
I actually don’t think that Jude is their speed — it has a bit of a hipster feel to me, which I love, but I think their taste skews more classic (not that Jude isn’t a classic — you know what I mean!). But being one syllable, I thought it deserved a mention!

(2) Blaise
As with Jude, I’m not sure they’ll love Blaise, but it’s one syllable and super saintly, so maybe!

(3) Stephen
I was actually inspired by David to suggest Stephen for Vanessa and David — it has a similar feel to me as their other kiddos — classic, handsome, saintly — and I know two Davids who have brothers named Stephen! And they all go by the full Stephen, not Steve/Stevie.

(4) George
I think George might be my favorite idea for this family! Between St. George and Pope Francis (born Jorge [Spanish for George]), and with two other boys being named after recent Popes, it’s a great pick for a little Catholic boy!

(5) Henry
I think Henry is just one of the sweetest names for a little boy! There are so many great Sts. Henry to choose from, and no obvious nickname! (Hank, yes, but not terribly obvious just from hearing Henry.)

(6) Adam
I feel like this suggestion seems a little out of left field, but when I saw Adam as a style match for Christopher I thought they might like it! It hasn’t got any nicknames, and there are a bunch of holy Adams (which I was surprised to discover!).

(7) Robert
Robert is a pretty big style match for this family, and I’ve been loving it recently — it’s so solid and handsome, and I love hearing it in Downton Abbey. 😁 It’s probably in the same category as Stephen and Nicholas — Vanessa and David would have to actively make sure that no one shortens it. St. Robert Bellarmine’s great!

(8) Peter
Like Robert, Peter did really well for them in my research; like Robert, they’d have to make sure no one shortens it to Pete/Petey. But otherwise I love it for them!

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little brother or sister of Nicholas, John, Mark, and Mary?